A disappointing end to the Chess Valley season in more ways than one for the second XI.

An excellent effort in the field saw the Barker brothers bring home 5 wickets between them and restrict Barnet to 177. Things though were already beginning to hot up in the middle following a catch taken off what was rightly called a no ball off of Dean Johnson.

In reply Cockfosters were never really in the hunt although the innings contained a maiden half century from 'insert adjective here' Hill. More unfortunate and unnecessary toy throwing ensued from the opposition as they won....and left. 

A short game contained a surprising amount of activity - Neil Hale went out to toss up with the opposing skipper only to find out that this was the skipper of the Wembley side due to be playing Harrow 1st XI - at this stage both away teams were ready but neither home team had made it!

A couple of the top order Harrow players looked like they knew what they were doing but decided to take chances against Wellsy and came off distinctly second best as he completed an 8 over spell taking 3 for 20. Own picked up when Wellsy had left off taking 2 in 2 balls as the ball kept low and the home batsmen did not seem to have an answer. Akash also picked up 3 wickets and the Harrow score tottered on 38 for 8. It was left to the number 10 batsman (nicknamed Levi's by Fosters due to his attire of jeans and blue top) to make 16 runs in a lively 9th wicket partnership which ended with a futile run out. The rest of the Harrow players quickly departed before the annoyed batsman could make his way off.

Sam took the final wicket - too much for Levi's as he was stumped by Michael, despite an attempt to throw his bat behind the line before the bails came off.

The reply was brief and typical! Doris (29) and Dan Rollo (9) whacked 43 from the opening 7 overs before both fell going for a shot too many. Dean was bowled by one that kept low and then Wellsy 'played himself in' bowled first ball - 55 for 4. Much scampering to the dressing room for kit ensued but there were no further alarms as some very calm and sensible batting from a left hander who looked like (and indeed claimed to be) Josh Kirk, saw him add 14 runs and take the side home. Neil made an excellent 0* at the other end!

It has been a difficult few weeks for the 2nd team in this competition and the trip to Hanwell looked bleak given the relatively poor availability for the game.

The early departures for ducks for both Joe Barker and Owen Hughes did not auger well for the Fisters innings. However Dan Rollo chipped in with 40 and Neil Hale (11) and Spooks (20) ensured a reasonable score would be achieved. Wellsy made an excellent cameo appearance with 26 not out but foolishly ran out of partners as the innings ended on 143.

In reply Fosters made an excellent start with some early wickets thanks to Owen Hughes's return of 3 for 13 from his full allocation of 10 overs. Unfortunately one of the openers was not given out lbw (when plumb!) by a relative and he was able to see Hanwell home when it looked like there might not be a lot of batting to come. A 5 wicket defeat was far from a disaster and with a bit more luck the result could easily have gone the other way.
 

With the 1st team having to cancel the scheduled game against Ickenham due to Herts County Cup commitments the 2nd team travelled to take on an Ickenham 2nd team that allegedly was a mixture of 2s-4s, but oddly contained the 1st team overseas player......

The team arrived in good time for the game despite some interesting driving from Nitin with more lane changes then anyone can remember.
 
Neil lost the toss for the first this year and their skipper decided they would have a bat on a wicket that looked flat and a little damp - to be honest we would of bowled anyway so a good toss to lose you would think.
 
We opened with Chris Nickolls and Roy Hill and after the first 10 overs we kind of knew it was going to be a day chasing leather. In the end Ickenham scored 326-5 in 45 overs with their 1st XI overseas bat scoring 90 their other 1's player scoring a very quick load of runs. 
 
Duncan Pearce took a good c&b to get the overseas guy out despite the other balls of the over getting despatched to all parts.

A major highlight in the field was Nitin - he can be entertaining at the best of times but watching him chase a ball to the boundary and stopping it even though his head disappeared in to the bushes whilst doing a full length dive certainly gave a few laughs.
 
Cockfosters were tired and disappointed at having to chase a massive total and decided not to simply roll over and to give it go.
 
So enter Westbury and Langley as openers (not many balls later exit Westbury for 0 out C&B to a 9 year old to give Spooks a pair for the weekend.
 
Enter Doris.....sorry, Andy Stokes and 13 overs later we are 130 for 1 and thinking game on here we go. It was not to be in the end but a great 51 from Matt and 92 from Stokesy certainly had the Ickenham team a little twitchy.
 
In the end we finished on 211 all out after 31 overs, which in context was a great effort with the bat and ball in the skipper's opinion it was a shame that Ickenham used 1st team players in a 2nd XI game to get the runs as he was sure that the side might well have prevailed otherwise.

A very good all round display from a second team which is a real mixture of Saturday 2nd, 3rd and 4th team.

Bowling first there was an excellent opening salvo from Benny and Wellsy keeping the scoring rate low on what is always a good track at our 2nd ground. The introduction of debutant Owen Hughes and Spooks brought the wickets that the opening spell deserved as 2 wickets fell to each of the change bowlers, Owen helping himself with a fantastic return catch.

Spooks bowled unchanged taking 2 for 30 from 10 excellent overs, and Holtwhites were really struggling on 90 for 4 after 25 overs. However a good partnership then ensued as Cheesy failed to find his recent Saturday form and none of the returning bowlers could stem the tide. However from looking like they might push on to 220 plus, the returning Owen picked up another 3 wickets and the innings faltered to a below par 201 for 7.

'Jedi' Knight and Dan Rollo soon showed how far below par it was, taking 90 from the first 11 overs. Jedi was particularly merciless scoring 52 from just 39 balls including a number of 4s and a towering (that's what he tells me!) 6 over long on. Dan made a very mature 31, but their dismissals saw a slow up in the run rate as Adam Pigden and Tony Whaley made slow progress in both getting to their 20s.

In the end it was left to Spooks (21 not out to cap a fine all round match) and Wellsy (26 not out, including a genuinely towering 6 to finish the match) who saw the side home with 4 wickets in hand and 6 overs to spare.